For centuries Russia had a dictator known as a Tsar. However by the early 1900s, the people had had enough. Throughout World War I, Russia was experiencing rebellion. This caused them to withdraw from the war. The succession government of the Tsars was communism. Originally idealized by Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin of the Bolsheviks envisioned and was the founding father of communism in Russia. He was the original leader of the Bolsheviks, a sect of the Communist Party (“Vladimir Lenin” Bio.com). In addition he was a main influence on the revolution.
In 1924, Lenin died allegedly of syphilis. Despite his eminent death after three strokes, no official successor was in place. This led to the contention between many high ranking officials of the Bolshevik sect of the Communist Party such as Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky. This was as they were the most prominent and power hungry figures in the communist party after Lenin’s death. The result was an immense race against each other to become the future of Communist Russia (“Vladimir Lenin” Russian Revolution). A race that would pit the two against each other in a deadly fashion for power.
Through propaganda real and fake, each tried to play the other down. One major effort by Stalin to
…show more content…
During the 1930s, the Great Purge took place. This was the imprisonment and execution of thousands of high ranking officials in the government and military. The purpose of this was to prevent revolution from rivals and remove all threats (McKinney). In addition, it created more obedience to Stalin out of fear of their own death or removal. The military was a heavily targeted area due to the increased ability to attack and thus aid or create a revolution to their power. Without the military with Stalin, he would not be able to defend any attack against or maintain peace and obedience. This would be as his threats would not be backed up with force behind